If you are looking for ways to incorporate sustainability into your lifestyle, a good place to start is with food. Since we don’t have a choice about buying food, it’s important to buy well and make other important food choices in order to become eco friendly. Here are some tips in how to implement environmentally friendly habits with food – and encourage your children to do the same.

Only buy what you need of perishable items.

If the fruit you purchase is getting riper by the hour and no one wants to eat it, cook it. Stewed apple, peaches and plums, baked bananas and orange juice in cakes or icing will all save that fruit going to waste. You can even stew and freeze it for later on.

Train your children to eat what is in the house, rather than refusing it and wanting something different.

Vegetables and most fruit keep better in the fridge, especially in the summer.

If your veggies are getting a big old, use them up by making a big pot of soup or stew.

If you have time or love cooking, take advantage of sales on fruit and vegetables to make jam, relish or chutney, or get extra to cook up some apple pies for the freezer.

Use fruit and vegetable peel as organic waste for the garden. Burying it about spade deep will do the trick.

That said, children should be encouraged to eat the peel of carrots, apples and certain other fruit as that is where lots of nutrition lies.

‘Dirty’ potatoes last longer out of the fridge than brushed or washed potatoes, so if you have a small fridge or it is packed full of other things it’s good to purchase those dirty spuds.

Buy as few packaged foods as you can manage. They are generally not good for you with high amounts of preservatives, salt and sugar. When you do buy it, remember, the packaging should be recycled.

Tinned food is often used as a standby or even regularly for things like tomatoes, beetroot and tuna. You can save the shallow tins for pet bowls or budgie food and use the taller ones for holding pencils, craft supplies and other small things that tend to get lost. Use a tin opener that opens from the top rather than the side so the tins are not left with a sharp edge.

Many people still use plastic supermarket bags for their shopping. If you do, save them up and take them back to the recycling bin in the entrance of the supermarket. Or you can use them for storage. However, don’t use them for holding recyclables, because the items won’t be accepted if wrapped in plastic bags.